Smitha Gopal, Managing Director of Techstars AI Health Baltimore, is looking for healthcare founders who combine deep problem knowledge with early customer traction - not just a polished pitch. The accelerator, backed by Johns Hopkins, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, MedStar Health, and two University of Maryland institutions, aims to compress years of healthcare sales cycles into months for startups using AI to improve patient care, access, affordability, and quality.
What founders need to show
The program's thesis centers on AI for healthcare - improving patient care, access, affordability, and quality. Gopal said she looks for founders who understand the problem they're solving from direct experience, whether clinical, industry, or as a patient or caregiver. "That firsthand knowledge into clinical workflows, reimbursement pathways, provider adoption or patient adherence are the critical inputs to create early traction," she said.
She also wants evidence of customer demand: a pilot, a design partnership, or a signed letter of intent. She named three traits she values in founders: humility, hustle, and honesty.
Lessons from building and selling a healthcare company
Gopal led and sold Rendia, a patient engagement platform used by more than 8,000 providers. She said three lessons from that experience guide her work with startups.
The first: know your customer deeply. "Understanding their pain points and what they are willing to pay to solve them is foundational," she said. "It's too easy to fall in love with your own solutions."
The second is focus. Early on, Rendia said yes to too many feature requests. "Learning to say no actually helped us fulfill the promises we'd made to our customers and allowed us to scale the business successfully, leading to our exit," she said.
The third is that every stakeholder matters - not just the buyer but also the end user, whether that's a provider, a health system, a payer, or a patient. "An unresolved conflict between stakeholders' needs will keep the business from finding success," she said.
Why Baltimore for healthcare AI
Gopal has called Baltimore home for 20 years. She described a community where founders are welcomed and can speak openly about challenges. "We consistently show up to offer support," she said.
For healthcare AI specifically, she pointed to the concentration of institutions: Johns Hopkins, CareFirst, MedStar Health, and the University of Maryland systems, plus federal agencies like CMS, FDA, and NIH nearby. Maryland's all-payer model means startups and early customers share common goals. "Our network of partners, density of talent and proximity to key regulatory stakeholders make Baltimore the best place in the country to build a healthcare startup," she said.
Where traditional investors fall short
Gopal said medical research has historically excluded women and underinvested in diseases that disproportionately affect people of color. Without that research, investors lack the full picture. "It's hard to correctly size the market or fairly evaluate companies trying to innovate in that space," she said. The fix, she added, is to recognize structural bias and seek diverse perspectives.
Why this matters for management
Gopal's emphasis on deep customer understanding, strategic focus, and stakeholder alignment offers a practical framework for managers overseeing AI initiatives. Her criteria for evaluating startups - problem knowledge, early traction, and team character - translate directly to assessing internal projects or vendor partnerships. These lessons connect to broader AI for management principles, where sound judgment about customers and priorities matters more than technical novelty.
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